Title:
|
An exploratory study of the sharing of process improvement knowledge
|
This thesis investigated those factors that influence the internal sharing of process
improvement knowledge.
The pressure for an organisation to adapt internal operations to external
environmental changes is becoming increasingly important as organizations no
longer compete on processes but on their ability to continually improve processes. It
was found that in general the knowledge and process improvement literature lacks
understanding of the behavioural aspects of process improvement knowledge. As
such this researches main motivation was to bring a behavioural view to our
understanding by incorporating established insights from outside the field of
operations management. To do so, a proposed conceptual framework was developed
from that literature prior to collection of case data.
The findings of this exploratory study are based on qualitative data from four case
companies. Whereby case evidence was gathered from interviews, visits to
operational locations, passive and active observation of employees involved in
process improvement activities, and supporting documentary evidence.
From the case analysis it was found that the behavioural aspects of skills, experience,
friendships, opportunism, formal and informal relationships, trust and bounded
rationality were found to be relevant across the cases in varying degrees of
significance. In particular process improvement knowledge was found to be
behavioural in nature with its relevance weaving across the three dimensions of the
conceptual framework (human, organisational and location). In addition to this the
research extends the applicability of the concept of absorptive capacity to internal
process improvement efforts and extends our understanding of formal control
systems by highlighting that even in the presence of stable conditions they can be
compromised by individual human behaviour. At the organisational level this
research found an important distinction between local and central commitment and
control of process improvement efforts. Similarly the location of employees and their
interaction with local physical assets were also found to mediate process
improvement knowledge. Overall the validity of the proposed conceptual model was
proved as a method for identifying the barriers and enablers to the internal sharing of
process improvement knowledge. This subsequently led to the creation of a number
of propositions that can be brought forward into future studies. These propositions
highlight that the sharing of process improvement knowledge is highly reliant on an
individual's willingness to socialise valuable knowledge. As such the importance of
informal relationships as a conduit to the sharing of the tacit process improvement
knowledge came to the fore.
This thesis set out to explore the sharing of process improvement knowledge and as
such met its aim, but it does however have its limitations. Process improvement
knowledge is a dynamic concept as it is constantly evolving as employees learn and
the environment changes. As such a longitudinal study could offer valuable insight
into the dynamism of process knowledge. In addition to this, the findings of the
complex interplay of individual and organisational learning within the organisational
dimension of the conceptual model warrants further exploration. Given that this
research finds support for organisational learning it stands to logic that future
research could build on this by incorporating a dynamic capabilities view to process
improvement knowledge.
|